Window coverings (e.g., drapes and curtains), as well as wall hangings (e.g., tapestries, decorative rugs, banners, artworks) are often suspended from, and thereby supported by, horizontally disposed rods. The rods are typically spaced a small distance from a wall including the window, or to which the wall hanging is to be secured, by brackets used for spacing the rod as well as for securing the rod to the wall. First and second ends of such rods are typically flush with an outer edge of each of the corresponding first and second brackets, or project slightly beyond the outer edges of the brackets.
The rods are typically manufactured of metals (e.g., enameled steel, plain or finished aluminum, brass or bronze, etc.) or of plastics. When they are cut to length in manufacturing or in field installation, they are generally deburred but may still include corners or edges sharp enough to snag, and even damage, the fabric or other material of the wall covering or hanging. Moreover, a cut end of a rod may appear unattractively unfinished in many styles of decor.
For these reasons, decorative end pieces, termed "finials" and configured to be unlikely to snag window covering material, are often provided to be affixed to both ends of a rod.
It is known to provide such finials in various designs and of various sizes and degrees of aesthetics, to be secured to ends of a rod by press fits or by threaded or unthreaded (e.g., spring pins) fasteners. It is also known to provide various kits for sale, each including generally the same style of rod (e.g., plain, fluted, or otherwise patterned) and finials of a particular style (e.g., Romanesque, gothic, colonial, sport-oriented, etc.) to assist in complementing the decor of a particular room and/or wall covering or hanging.
It would be advantageous to provide for a window covering support system to have finials which can be provided with a variety of decorative members. It would also be advantageous to provide for the decorative members of such a window covering support system to be easily and quickly replaceable by, e.g., an unskilled homeowner, without the use of tools. It would also be advantageous to provide for the decorative members of such a window covering support system to be pendant (i.e., hanging vertically by gravity and freely swinging) to enhance the aesthetic value of the window covering support system.